SHOOT LIKE A GIRL: Biopic Seeks Angelina Jolie For Air Force Major Hegar Role

Angelina Jolie sought for Shoot Like a Girl Lead Role

Angelina Jolie is in talks for the lead role in TriStar Pictures’ Shoot Like A Girl book-to-film adaptation. Jolie would play Air Force Major Mary Jennings “MJ” Hegar. The role is based on Hegar’s upcoming memoir Shoot Like a Girl: One Woman’s Dramatic Fight in Afghanistan and on the Home Front. The book and the film will chronicle Major Hegar’s third tour in Afghanistan when she was shot down, injured, and fought to save the lives of her patients and crew. The film would also feature Major Hegar’s fight against the military’s Ground Combat Exclusion Policy which forbid woman from serving in combat roles. The film adaptation of Shoot Like A Girl is being written by Frank Baldwin. No director has been selected for the project yet.

The official description for the upcoming memoir (its release date is March 7, 2017) has a more detailed description of the book’s content:

On June 29, 2009, Air National Guard major Mary Jennings “MJ” Hegar was shot down while on a Medevac mission on her third tour in Afghanistan. Despite being wounded, she fought the enemy and saved the lives of her crew and their patients. But soon she would face a new battle: to give women who serve on the front lines the credit they deserve. . . .

After being commissioned into the U.S. Air Force, MJ Hegar was selected for pilot training by the Air National Guard, finished at the top of her class, then served three tours in Afghanistan, flying combat search-and-rescue missions, culminating in a harrowing rescue attempt that would earn MJ the Purple Heart as well as the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor Device.

But it was on American soil that Hegar would embark on her greatest challenge—to eliminate the military’s Ground Combat Exclusion Policy, which kept female armed service members from officially serving in combat roles despite their long-standing record of doing so with honor.

In Shoot Like a Girl, MJ takes the reader on a dramatic journey through her
military career: an inspiring, humorous, and thrilling true story of a brave, high-spirited, and unforgettable woman who has spent much of her life ready to sacrifice everything for her country, her fellow man, and her sense of justice.

The war aspects of this film reminds me of the film Courage Under Fire. It has been sometime since Angelina Jolie was in an action role in front of cameras. Directing has become her passion. It would take a great role to bring her back. Shoot Like A Girl seems like that role.

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Rollo Tomasi

A Political Science and MBA grad who started FilmBook during an eCommerce B-School course in 2008. Cinema and TV addict. Former writer at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and Alternative Film Guide. In addition to writing for FilmBook, he also edits the copy published on the website, manages its writing staff, manages the back-end operations, site finances, its social network accounts, and works with publicists, actors, and companies on press coverage and promotions. He has also created ProMovieBlogger.com and Trending Awards.com.